Lorn residents fed up with bat invasion

Fed-up with an invasion of flying foxes in their neighbourhood, Lorn residents will tonight urge Maitland Council to take urgent action.

This week the council's due to release a plan of management outlining ways to deal with the colony that residents believe has swelled to 50,000 over the past two years.

Lorn resident Ron Bown says he will tell councillors tonight, the community has had enough.

"I'll be trying to reinforce the desperate situation that residents are in here and it's becoming impossible to live here," he said.

"We're faced daily with the smell of the bats and nightly with the noise of the bats as well as the fact that people have obvious anxieties about the health-related issues.

"In fact many residents live underneath these flying foxes so there are "no go" zones in their own back yards."

The residents are also calling on Maitland MP, Robyn Parker to step in.

Mr Bown says it could require action from all levels of government, but Ms Parker has the power to intervene at a state level.

"Our local member is the Minister for the Environment and we certainly would like to see some action from her on it, but it also involves liaison with the Federal Government as well and we hope that the council will do that on our behalf.

"At the end of the day individual land owners will need to apply, but the council is providing the framework that will allow us to do that."